It’s rainy today and around 15 to 18 degrees Celsius outside in NYC. Heh, and it’s supposed to be summer here. I really don’t want to imagine what winter is like.

I’m just resting at my apartment now and it’s been a really long week. I guess impressions have changed and improved over the last few days. Not as much the wreck that I was the first few days I was in a foreign land.

Once you settle down a bit, thoughts are a little more focused and you think better. Did some grocery shopping and all the familiar things from Melbourne no longer exist here, so I fumbled around a bit before getting the stuff I needed.

Haven’t explored much yet as work is a whole day affair and while my colleague says its safe within certain areas, I’m still not comfortable exploring NYC at night on my own yet.

Some impressions so far. It rained the other day, and my colleagues and I walked into a convenience store to buy an umbrella each as the rain was just like what you’d get in Malaysia, the extremely wet kind. Under normal conditions in Melbourne, I’d just brave the rain as you can’t get too wet. NYC really is a melting pot of sorts, as I’ve seen so many different kinds of people here speaking various languages that I’m not familiar with and only just yesterday, wandered along the streets into a Ukrainian festival. Heh, they have a large enough community that they can come out and celebrate, which is quite a marvel to see.

There are some familiar things like television shows which seem universal, and just managed to stream the English FA cup on my PC. Sadly Manchester United lost to Chelsea, and you could really tell from the game that both teams were just grinding at each other, without too much spark. United lost to Chelsea only from a moment of brilliance from Drogba (granted, he has a killer touch for goal).

Thank goodness I’m a computer geek, or I’d be at my wit’s end trying to communicate with people (Skype is so useful) or at least find some comfort so far away from home. Using Skype to call home and spending as much time as possible speaking with Vyanne online. At least it’s a way of keeping each other updated, even if the time difference can be a pain at times.

Blizzard just announced Starcraft 2, which got me so excited. Heh, I haven’t been excited about any game announcements for so long. The original game came out in 1998 and I still remember playing it to death. Blizzard is one of the rare companies that when they produce something, they always give it 110%. There’s just a polished feel about their games that makes you drool over it.

Raining so not much else I can do at the moment. So I leave with some photos.

The apartment I’m staying at

One of the bustling streets in NYC

Heh, it can be described in one word, being in NYC. Overwhelming!

It’s just so different, being here. Heh, there’s lots to describe, but feeling quite tired now. Still a little jet lagged, and noted that the toilet flush does go anti-clockwise up in the northern hemisphere.

The flight from KL to NY was long, with just a quick stop at Stockholm to refuel and restock the plane’s supplies. It was raining at the time and looking out the windows of the boarding lounge, I could see just surrounding forests and nothing else. Contrast this to the busy highways and buildings upon arrival at NY. I had flown for almost 22 hours, yet the sun was still shining on me when I touched down. Really marvel that mobile phones can roam internationally. Could at least call home and Vyanne to give updates on my whereabouts.

Immigration wasn’t as bad as I expected, only blot was the customs person asking silly questions and messing up my luggage. Managed to get onto Manhattan island fine, and thought I saw a glimpse of the Empire State building.

Checked into my apartment and it’s a little different from what I expected. Heh, it was more brightly lit than in the pictures I saw.

* * *

Got to work this morning and thank goodness Vyanne gave me a morning call. My alarm was still set to Melbourne time and would not have rung eventhough I noted the time as it was in PM and not AM. Sleep was disrupted throughout the night as I kept waking up, not sure why.

Heh, walked to work, and got incredulous looks from my colleagues. Not a wonder though, considering it took an hour to reach my workplace from where I stayed. NYC is really large, and while one may cover two ends of Melbourne’s CBD in 40 minutes, you’d probably only manage like an inch on the map in NYC.

My first day was okay. Rather relaxed actually. Had lunch with colleagues and was shown around. The office had security everywhere, unlike the Melbourne office where one could waltz in and out as they pleased. Here you needed a swipe card to go into the building, to get up the lift, to go into the office, etc. Even to access the toilet, you needed to know a lock combination to get in.

When I took the subway back to my apartment, there were policemen at the entry points to the subway. Maybe I’m just a little intimidated by all the security measures taken for the safety of the city. Does it make me feel any safer? Not really.

* * *

Heh, it’s 330am now. Got woken by blaring horns and sirens an hour back, and I just couldn’t go back to sleep. This adventure has been strange so far, with me worrying about all the things to get into the US of A and by far, all the actual things in the country itself is proving harder to tackle at the moment. Heh, wonder if I’ll make it through my 3 month probation period in one piece. Am more mentally exhausted than anything else right now.

Heh, this is my second attempt at whipping out my laptop on the plane. The first time I had to figure out how to turn off my wireless connection so as to not interfere with any of the airplane’s navigation instruments (or so they say). Wasn’t too confident I was doing that so I decided to stuff the laptop back in my bag. Then other thoughts came into my mind and I decided I had to jot it down. That and I had nothing much to do idling on the plane at the moment.

* * *

I’m sitting in my seat on the plane back to KL from Melbourne idling when I just recall that I still have some clothing in the washing machine. Heh, talk about last minute packing, I didn’t really start to put clothes into my luggage until around 3am this morning. I’ve never been very good with packing and there is no sense of urgency until I absolutely have to go. Just didn’t want to live off a suitcase while I still had time to run in and out of my apartment doing stuff.

* * *

It’s been a hectic day so far, getting up at 7am to help Vyanne move to her new apartment. She had hired movers for the morning and I just needed to help move some of the smaller stuff that she and her housemates had. I had only slept at 4am since I was still busy packing. Packing my luggage only involved clothing, and some personal items. The bulk of the time was spent transferring data from my PC across to a 500GB hard disk I bought. Heh, that’s a whopper of a size for a hard drive and is the first drive I’ve purchased that has the capacity to save all my data.

Anyway, all that aside, managed to fall asleep on Vyanne’s sofa holding a cup of coffee. I still think I’m one of the rare individuals who can sleep sitting down holding hot contents in a cup without spilling it. Heh, it was a slightly frosty morning and I just needed some caffeine and adrenaline to get me started.

* * *

After all that, managed to have breakfast at our favourite breakfast place opposite Victoria market. It’s a little Italian place (I suppose) that seems to be family runned and while the food isn’t fantastic, the atmosphere and friendliness of the staff are what we go for there. Heh, had a croissant while Vyanne had eggs on toast. Had my 3rd coffee of the day, the 2nd one was with Ken and Carol as we sat down just an hour earlier for our last meetup before I had to leave. Heh, Carol had wanted to have a hot pot tonight and had spoken to me on Wednesday night saying she wanted to do it on the weekend, expecting that with only 2 days left in the week that I’d still be around. My passport had arrived the next day and as my ticket was being continuously rolled over, it was easy for the travel agent to book a flight out of Melbourne for me. Heh, I guess I’ll miss out on the hot pot, which is especially tasty on cold days such as today.

* * *

Got friends to send me to the airport. I guess after Tuesday’s episode with me not showing gratitude, I felt a little more obliged myself to show appreciation to my friends who have helped me out a lot over the past years. Even a little token as some honey roasted macadamias is warmly received and I hope I’ll never be silly enough again to not be appreciative of people’s efforts on my behalf. Managed to squeeze in one more drink with Jin Wee, Angeline and Vyanne (Dean and Mei brought over my tickets slightly after noon, as it was delivered to the office and I had taken yesterday off, so talk about living on the edge).

Then it was finally the time I had to go through immigration and it was a short goodbye with Vyanne. She hurried me through the doors and I was a little hesitant as I waved goodbye. Emotionally, I felt a lead weight on my heart but it had been a long day so far and I was just tired and walked along like a drone. Didn’t take long before I boarded the plane to fall asleep and had managed a couple of hours of napping before I started feeling too uncomfortable in my seat.

* * *

I guess it’s my inexperience in relationships and girls have amplified emotions in situations when someone they love has to go to a far away place and not be able to see them for some time. I only started to understand how Vyanne felt about me leaving after talking to so many different people of different age groups and they all felt very, very sad. I guess it doesn’t help much too when there are people like me who are quite wooden in their approach to express their feelings. I’m too logical and pragmatic for my own good, but I do feel inside and at the moment, I just want to be supportive of Vyanne in every way that I can, even if I’m not physically around.

I do have plans to be back for her graduation in August, even if these plans aren’t known to my employers at the moment. Will just try and work really hard and earn a short trip back to Melbourne as we all need something to look forward to so that the days don’t seem so long and where there is anticipation, there is hope. Heh, there’s also Mei and Dean’s wedding in January next year that I have to attend, so I won’t be away from Melbourne for too long. I also do hope that for all the things that Vyanne has had to cope with over the past few months, that things would settle down for her and that good things will come her way. Heh, so the saying goes that patience is rewarded.

* * *

Personally, I’m feeling a little anxious at the moment. Emotions don’t tend to hit me until I have to deal with it and I am now going to New York, and even with the experience I’ve had coming to Melbourne, I still feel a little daunted by the prospect. One thing I do know is that I have to put a LOT more effort into my social skills and try to be friendly. It’s a big world out there with bigger egos than mine and I really need to make myself be heard or risk ending up being swallowed whole.

Heh, it could go horrendously wrong next week but that’s just me being pessimistic. I figured the first week will be the longest for both me and Vyanne adapting to the changes around us. My senses will hurt absorbing the new surroundings and it should filter out after a while and I do look forward to taking up the challenges presented to me.